Story Time: Gus Was a Friendly Ghost

I promise every single post coming up won’t be a Story Time, but I am enjoying this series so much that I have to do another. In fact, I’m even going to keep with the Halloween theme today and offer you a story time about Gus Was a Friendly Ghost by Jane Thayer, a gem from my childhood. There are more recent ghost books your littles might enjoy with this Story Time, such as Ghosts in the House. Feel free to use that book instead if you wish, but for me, nothing quite compares with this warm-hearted story of friendship and the simple but imaginative illustrations by Seymour Fleischman.

English

Here is a free, four-page download with handwriting practice, a writing prompt, and poetry comprehension about ghosts from the Lit Mama, for your English-learning pleasure: Ghost worksheets Also, Head over to Education.com for a great reading comprehension compare/contrast of ghost stories. You have to register to download it, but it’s free and there are lots of other goodies to be had at that site.

Finally, check out this cute, printable, Free board game for practicing tense at ISL Collective. Again, you have to register, but it’s another site I’ve used for years and it’s free and full of the good stuff.

Science

ghost balloon

If you have a white balloon handy, you can go with my beautiful husband’s vinegar and baking soda demo, and use a water bottle to blow up a balloon ghost. Easy peasy—draw ghost eyes on a white balloon with a black marker. Use a funnel to fill the un-inflated balloon with 2 TBSP baking soda. Fill the bottle with about a cup of vinegar, then stretch the balloon neck over the mouth of the bottle without letting the baking soda fall into it. Stretch as much of the neck over the bottle as you can so the balloon will really stand up. Shake the baking soda down into the bottle quickly. The chemical reaction will blow up the balloon, providing your littles with a magical ghost!

If you’re tired of my baking soda and vinegar experiments, try some Static Electricity!

Cut a ghost out of white tissue paper. Use a marker to add eyes and a mouth. Tape the bottom of your ghost to the floor or a table.

Rub your balloon on your hair (or you could use a sweater) to build up static electricity (electrons). When you move the balloon over your ghost, he will appear to rise up and dance!

If you want to read some Real Science about ghosts, check out this intriguing article about scientists creating ‘ghosts’ in a lab at Telegraph. It definitely provides some conversation sparks!

Get Active

Play Ghost Hunter

This is a fun take on a scavenger hunt. You can use a ghost you’ve made from the Art/crafts section of this post or a ghost decoration you already have. Here are the rules:

Decide on a ghost hunter agency name
Discuss who and how the ghost is haunting
Have mama or dada hide the ghost
Littles ask mama or dada 20 yes or no questions about where the ghost might be such as
- Does the ghost like toys?
- What does the ghost eat?
- Does the ghost wear grown up clothes or little clothes?
When the littles have figured out which room the ghost is in, the questions can get more specific until they finally find the ghost.

Or head over to No Time for Flashcards to get directions on how to set up Ghost Bowling.

Arts/Crafts

You can, of course, make a Tootsie Pop ghost, which requires a sucker, a tissue, a marker, and something to tie your tissue to your sucker with. They are popular and tasty.

But if you want a more permanent ghost you hang from your ceiling fan (and he won’t get eaten)….

Mini Hanging Ghosts

MATERIALS:

1” or2” Styrofoam ball

8” x 8” square tissue paper or cheesecloth (looks especially spooky)

School Glue

Google eyes

8” embroidery thread, any color

DIRECTIONS

Cover top half of ball with glued. Place, glue side down, in center of tissue paper. Fold tissue paper around ball so ends drape around it. Glue google eyes on for a face.

Use a needle to pull embroidery thread through top of ball. Tie thread in a knot. Cut off excess.

Hang your ghost wherever he makes you happy. Or tie him to the handlebars of your bike and watch him float along with you as you ride.

Felt Gus the Ghost

All you need for this cute and cuddly craft is some white felt, a marker, and some googly eyes. Oh, and this template from your ever-faithful Lit Mama. Just cut out the template, use it to cut your ghost from felt, then follow the template to make the dash lines, hands and mouth. Add some googly eyes. Done! A ghost your little can take to bed if she wants!

Food

Boo Brownies

Serves 6 (makes 12)

Cooking time: 2 hours

What You Will Need:

For the brownies:

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
6 oz dark chocolate, broken into small cubes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp vanilla
2 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

For the meringue ghosts:

3 large egg whites at room temperature
1⁄4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 sugar
black writing icing

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Butter and lightly flour an 8-inch square pan. Line the bottom of the pan with wax paper, then butter and flour the paper.
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate with the butter, stirring to blend.
Remove from heat. Stir in sugar, egg, salt, flour, walnuts, and vanilla.
Spread in prepared pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes in pan, then turn out onto a rack and peel the wax paper off the back. Cut into squares.
To make the meringue ghosts, place the egg whites in a large, clean, grease-free bowl and whisk with electric beaters until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue whisking until the mixture forms soft peaks. Add the sugar a spoonful at a time, whisking after each addition, until you have a smooth, thick, glossy mixture.
Heat the oven to 250 F. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Spoon the meringue mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain nozzle
Pipe small mounds of meringue on to the baking sheets (you might get more than 12, but extras can be saved and used later). Bake for 1 hour 30minutes,untilcrispanddrytothetouch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
When cool, use the black writing icing to draw eyes and a mouth on each. Top each brownie with a meringue ghost to serve.

If you want a healthier snack for ghosts, try these Banana Ghosts:

What you need:

Bananas

semi-sweet chocolate chips

mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

What you do:

Peel bananas, keeping ends intact. cut in half.

Press the point of a chocolate chip into the center of the top of a banana half (the mouth).

Press the points of 2 mini chocolate chips above the mouth for eyes.

You can see why I’m so excited about this series. Coming up with all these ideas for you guys is So Much Fun! Now I have an interesting way to spend a Monday afternoon, too. I hope my littles don’t get tired of picture books any time soon. At least, I hope they don’t tell me if they do…

Love wins,

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KT Brison

KT Brison is a former children’s librarian and educator who gave all that up for the most important job in her life—homeschooling her boys.Though she loves the outdoors and rambling around her farm, she can usually be found with her nose in a book. Any book. As long as it has words.